8 Responses. > 1  the Moon takes an elliptical path around the Earth. The planets make nearly elliptical orbits around the Sun, close enough for reasonable approximations, but the Moonâs Orbit around the Earth is sufficiently influenced by the Sun that it follows a path detectably different from an ellipse.
Quick Answer. In 1896, French scientist Antoine Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity which was an early contribution to atomic theory. He discovered this phenomenon while experimenting with uranium and a photographic plate. Continue Reading.
How did Democritus discover the atom? Quick Answer. Because ancient Greek thinkers such as Democritus lacked sophisticated technology and tools such as the microscope, his theory of the atom was due more to thought experimentation than to hard empirical observation, as used in modern science.